


The Real Deal

by awerewolf



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Disabled Character, M/M, also spoilers lmao, at least for now, listed as completed because technically there is no plot, pretty much a stairway to nowhere fic, series of drabbles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-16 07:38:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5819875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awerewolf/pseuds/awerewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deacon loves old world relics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm scraping together the drabbles i post on my tumblr and putting them in a kind of chronological order here. new ones will be posted out of chronological order. if it's important i'll include the intro, or if it was prompted i'll include that.
> 
> hope you like

Miles narrowed his eyes as he set entered the new settlement. Dogmeat didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, Miles could see plain as day. It was that guy again. The one with the sunglasses. It had to be at least the third time he’d seen that guy, and there was no way in hell it was a coincidence.

Still, he gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. Likely if his intent was malicious, he’d avoid being seen at all rather than try to blend in.

Miles pressed his lips into a thin line, watching the man as he sat at the bar, and quickly darted out of his line of view when the man looked away for a moment.

Around the corner, he saw the man’s head turn back towards where he had been standing and then freeze for a second, confused, before looking around casually as if there were nothing really wrong.

When he turned away again, Miles quickly made his way next to him just in time for the guy to turn his head and seem him standing there.

His eyebrows went up, high enough to see over his sunglasses, but he wasn’t particularly shocked.

Miles grinned. “You know, people will say we’re in love.”

The guy in the shades barked out a surprised laugh before he could stop himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have some super early deacon + miles

It was his birthday.

Fuck, he made the mistake of looking at his pipboy again and confirming it. November 20th, 2287 shone bright in the corner of the screen.

If everything wasn’t terrible, he would probably be sprawled across the couch with his beautiful wife in his arms, having just ordered some horrible cheap pizza, watching late night television until they got sleepy or Shaun got hungry.

But everything was terrible, and so not only was he celebrating his birthday in a fucked up post war commonwealth, but it was his 236th birthday.

But a guy could dream, right? He twirls his wedding band around his finger and thinks about listening to the holotape of her voice again. There’s a bittersweetness to it, and for a moment he can pretend she’s there, but every time her voice cracks when she mentions her mother his heart drops into his stomach and he wants to reach out to her and then he’s there again, alone in the dark.

Well, not completely alone this time. There’s that guy, from the Railroad. Miles barely knows him but he’s seen him around and now he’s being shown the ropes for this new club or whatever.

“You alright?” The guy called out, as if on cue. He was laying on the mattress across from him. Miles had thought he was sleeping. “You look like someone’s stomped on your foot and refused to apologize.”

“It’s nothing.” Miles shook his head. “You should rest.”

“It’s hard to rest with your intense glare burning a hole in the concrete.” He rolled over and propped himself up with one arm. “I can smell the fumes it’s putting off.”

Miles sighed. “It’s my birthday.”

“Damn!” Deacon reached over into his pack. “That calls for a birthday beer, because I already ate all the snack cakes. Pop the top and make a wish.”

Miles chuckled and took it. “Thanks, I guess.”

“And how old is our birthday boy, this year?” Deacon grabbed his own and sat up right on the mattress.

“How old do I look?”

“Hmm.” Deacon took a sip and rubbed his chin. “I’d say, thirty at the most, but that’s probably not how old you are.”

“Would it shock you to hear that I’m 236?”

“Absolutely not.” Deacon grinned. “You tell your fridge story to literally every open ear and you think that Deacon, the King of Gathering Intel, didn’t already pick this up? _Please_.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why i write this thing, but here. it’s about miles, naturally. talking about sage. also sads bc how do i write without those???
> 
> ft. ya boy deacon bc miles doesn’t talk to anybody else

“What was she like?” Deacon asked one day, when the dawn had barely cracked over the horizon. He was sipping a Nuka Cola with a cigarette in his mouth at the same time, which was a talent of his.

“Who?” Miles replied, although he had an idea already.

Deacon reached over and tapped the wedding ring on his finger. “You never take it off. Even when we have to be in disguises, you still wear it.”

“It’s surgically attached to my finger.” He offered, hoping to change the subject with a few light hearted jokes.

“Yeah? What about the one around your neck?”

He didn’t know that Deacon had noticed, but he couldn’t bring himself to be surprised. He had kept Sage’s ring rattling around in his pocket for a while until he found some dogtags in a drawer somewhere. He kept the chain for himself, looping her ring inside of it and tucking it under his vault suit.

He was always afraid he’d lose it, or someone would pick his pocket and take it. It was too small to fit on his stupid fingers and the thought of losing it made him want to punch himself in the head. It was safer to wear it. Made him feel better.

In that moment, though, he scrambled for another joke. “That’s, uh- That’s the one ring to rule them all. Gotta throw it in a volcano.”

“Huh?” Deacon grimaced, and Miles shook his head. Sometimes, there were old world references that not even Deacon would understand.

“Doesn’t matter.” Miles shrugged his shoulders, stiff after a night of sleeping on the ground, and sighed. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m nosy.” He pushed up his sunglasses and grinned. “Besides, you never talk about her. I want to know what she was like. Like, what was your favorite thing about her?”

“I don’t know.”

“But what’s the first thing you think of? Come on, stop being so vague. I told you about mine.”

He frowned and picked at some loose skin near his fingernails. “She always… She always wore her hair in a ponytail, when we were first dating. She had one when we first met, too. It was a style, back then. Girls would tie their hair up with these fancy ribbons, the fancier the better. But she had her hair tied up with something that looked like it was torn off of a tshirt.” He smiled a little. “I thought she was being quirky or rebellious, you know? Turns out she just couldn’t afford to buy any ribbons.”

He cleared his throat and went on. “But she was cute, like that. Made her look perkier than she really was. She wasn’t very perky.”

“Don’t tell me she was a doom and gloom type.”

“No, no. She just saw the world for what it was, back then. Not everything was shiny and beautiful, not for everyone.”

“Well if it was, it wouldn’t have blown up, right?”

“Yeah.” Miles admitted.

“But what was she like?” Deacon leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m compiling a list. Things I know about Mrs. Redmond: Numero uno, looked super cute in a ponytail.”

Miles laughed at that. “She was, uh, well she was quiet. Not shy, just liked to not talk. I think she preferred to listen. She was… she was always sad. Her life wasn’t easy. I, uh, I liked to think that when we got together that I could fix everything for her. Like I could protect her. I always fucked it up, though.” He laughed, but it was hollow and self-deprecating. “Even in the end, I fucked it up.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault, what happened.”

“She would be sitting here right now if I had just taken Shaun instead.” Miles shook his head. “He was upset. He never liked for me to hold him, he was attached to her, but that one god damn time he wanted me. I didn’t- If I had just taken Shaun they would’ve come after me to get to him-”

“And then you’d be dead.” Deacon sighed out a cloud of smoke and flicked the ashes off the end of his cigarette. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but how do you think your always sad wife would’ve handled watching you die instead?”

“She would’ve survived.” Miles insisted. “She survived a lot before I even met her. She could’ve gotten along without me.”

“And losing her baby?”

“I don’t know.” They sat in silence for a minute, and the sun finished coming up over the horizon. There was a chill in the morning breeze, just like there would’ve been 200 years ago.

“Her name was Sage, by the way.” Miles offered, hefting himself up on his feet and offering Deacon a hand up. “And she hated candy.”

Deacon took it. “Well, now I _know_ I wouldn’t get along with her.”

They laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here’s the boys, here are my garbage boys.
> 
> conversation about miles leg while miles tries to fix it and also he’s in his underpants. it’s sfw, just funny to me.

“How come you gotta get down to your undies every time you decide to take off your fancy leg, huh?”

They were tucked together pretty good in some old apartment they’d found. It was comfortable enough for the night and still had enough furniture to sleep on. It was also a really hard place to get ambushed, which was why they chose it as their place to stay.

“My vault suit is a jumpsuit.” Miles spoke through a mouthful of screws. “Can’t remove one piece without removing it all, and it’s kind of hard to get to my leg without pants on.”

“Can’t you just put it back on afterwards?”

“Why?” Miles leaned back and spit the screws into his hand. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” He said it like a joke but Deacon knew there was a level of seriousness there.

“Nah,” Deacon shrugged. “I’m digging the underpants, though. Is that Jangles?”

“None other.” Miles shook his head. “Anyway, I might think to do that sometimes but putting on things like pants, and especially like this vault suit, is pretty much impossible when you can’t stand up.”

“I guess it would be.” Deacon watched as Miles bent over the metal leg he had draped over his lap. It had definitely seen better days, although he had expected better technology from the kind of society that Miles came from. The thing looked almost like an Assaultron’s leg, just with better shaped feet for sticking into shoes.

“How’d you lose your leg, anyway?” Deacon found their pack with his foot and dragged it over to dig through.

“I told you, I got trapped under a collapsed roller coaster for three days and had to chew it off.”

“Yeah, see, you can’t bullshit a bullshitter, my friend.” He found a box of Dandy Boy Apples and popped it open. “Especially since you’re so damn bad at it.”

Miles laughed. “Okay, okay. The truth is pretty boring, actually. I, uh, stepped on a mine.”

“You just stepped on a mine?” Deacon’s eyebrows went up. “And blew your leg off?”

“Obviously.” Miles wiggled his bare leg. His thigh and knee where all that were left of his leg, and even then he was scarred up to his hip. “The explosion fucked me up pretty badly. Tore my whole damn leg up, not just the part I lost. I’m lucky I didn’t lose, y’know, other stuff. Almost lost hearing in one of my ears too.” He gestured to his face. “All these scars are from the same thing.”

“Well, shit.” Deacon shook his head. “I’m glad you didn’t die.”

“Yeah, it was a close one.” Miles found his screws again and began putting them back into place.

“How does it feel?”

“To get your leg blown off?” Miles shrugged. “Not as bad as you’d expect, actually. I mean it hurts but you know, freezer burn after a few centuries in the cryovault is a little more painful.”

“I meant not having a leg.”

“Oh shit, tell my weird brain that.” He snorted. “I’m wiggling my toes right now.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Miles and Deacon go on a date to the Boston Public Library

“Do super mutants even know how to read?” Miles asked.

“Hey, you don’t know.” Deacon dug through a broken shelf. “They could be the greatest literary scholars of this era.”

“Uh huh.” Miles shook his head. “Find anything good?”

“Oh, yeah. A couple of good ones so far.” He sat back on his haunches and pushed up his sunglasses, reaching for the neat pile beside him. “First, we’ve got an English to Spanish dictionary, which I imagine will come in handy these days. Next, a pristine copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which I’m pretty excited about. Then we’ve got Oliver Twist, but he’s missing a few pages.”

He named a few more titles that Miles was only vaguely familiar with before he got to the last one.

“And then, my favorite for last, this absolute treasure.” Deacon held it up, grinning. The cover of the book, titled The Rose of The West, depicted a woman with ridiculous proportions being clutched by a sweaty shirtless cowboy of equally ridiculous proportions. A horse running on the prairie was in the background, probably trying to escape from being on the cover of a terrible harlequin romance novel.

“Oh, that’s a good one.” Miles said.

Deacon laughed. “Yeah, it seems like something you would’ve read.”

“Oh, totally. I bet there’s about twenty heaving bosoms in there.” He shook his head. “Of all the books to survive the apocalypse.”

“Hey, hey. This is gold.” Deacon stood and stuffed the books in his pack. “You just don’t understand their love.”

Miles snorted.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Tell us a story about a time Deacon got sick and Miles had to nurse him back to health

“You’d think, all things considered, that I would be the one with the superior immune system.” Deacon wisecracked while shivering under about three dirty blankets. “I mean, my body is the one that’s been fighting off radiation and new viruses and shit in this postwar commonwealth. You’ve probably never been exposed to any of this before.”

“Dogs and cats, but that’s about it, I think.” Miles leaned over and shoved a bottle of water in his hand. “Unfortunately I don’t have any orange juice for you, poor lil guy.”

“I am.” Deacon nodded before taking a sip. “I’ve only seen that stuff in pictures. Was it any good? What did it taste like?”

“It was good, but I’m not sure if I could describe it.” Miles shook his head. “Acidic, but sweet. Not like a cola. There’s no citrus left in this world, so you’d have no frame of reference.”

“But how will I ever get better, doc?” Deacon whined. “I need to at least imagine drinking orange juice, or eating some, what? Chick end noodle soup.”

“Chick end?” Miles snorted. “Well, those chicks can stop fretting about their ends because Nurse Miles is here.”

“Nurse Miles, whose hands shake even when he has to apply stimpaks to other people?” Deacon’s eyes were probably bloodshot under his sunglasses, which he still did not take off. “That Nurse Miles?”

“Or I can just take you to Doctor Carrington.”

“No, no.” Deacon corrected quickly. “I like Nurse Miles. He’s got better bedside manner, and he’s much more handsome.”

“That’s what I thought.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Miles and MacCready (and Deacon?) bonding over being dads

“Don’t leave the neighborhood.” Mac said.

He’d brought Duncan to the Commonwealth after everything had settled down. He wanted to be with his son and he would be lying if he said that seeing Miles go through what he had with his own kid didn’t make him rethink everything.

Shaun was there, though, and eager to make friends with the only other kid around. Duncan felt the same.

“Shaun, listen.” Miles stepped up beside MacCready and crossed his arms. “You’re the older one so you’re going to have to be responsible, understand? You can’t go getting in trouble or getting yourselves hurt.”

“I know, I know.” Shaun mimicked his father’s stance. “We just want to go explore. I can protect him, and myself.”

“You need to respect MacCready’s word too, and he doesn’t want you leaving the neighborhood. In fact, I agree with him.”

The kid’s face pinched up and he looked down at the ground. “There’s just… cool stuff out in the woods sometimes.”

“I can take them.” Deacon stepped up next to them, the stub of a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “That is, if they don’t mind me joining their little adventuring party.”

“Yeah! Deacon can come with us!” The boys looked excited and Deacon looked almost smug behind his shades.

Miles sighed. “Don’t get them in trouble, Deacon.”

“Trouble?” He snorted. “Nah, we’re just gonna eat handfuls of buffout and punch Mirelurks, that’s all.”

Mac shook his head. “I don’t know. I think you can trust Deacon as far as you can throw him.”

“I dunno.” Miles rubbed his chin. “I could throw Deacon pretty far.”

Deacon grinned, then used both hands to grab the boys’ heads. “Alright, boys. Let’s explore the woods and not get eaten by deathclaws.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> endgame feels feat. deacon
> 
> also some dad feels

Being around the kid was surreal at first.

Deacon had seen the old man once, up top the old CIT ruins. He looked so much like Miles it was uncanny.

He had to admit, before he thought they might’ve been fucking Miles over, selling him some lie about his son being the decrepit old director of the Institute. When he laid eyes on the old man he knew it was the truth, though.

Their eyes were almost exactly the same, except Miles had warm sad eyes like a lonely dog that would follow any pair of legs that didn’t kick at it. The old man was cold, more the emotionless machine than any of his creations.

The kid, though, that was something.

Deacon knew what he was, of course. Miles did too. They just didn’t mention it or talk about it ever.

But he was still all Miles, just way younger instead of way older. He was a gangly little kid, noodle-limbed with messy curls. He was like the old man, though, too. He didn’t have his father’s freckles. He was quiet. His nose was just a little different.

And it was all kind of messed up in it’s own way, seeing them like that. The old man, Miles, and the kid. All there together, but out of sync like some kind of… weird time travelling experiment gone wrong.

And it was weird to think that the kid and the old man were the same person.

Some lies were so easy to tell, and the easiest lie was pretending to Miles that the person he loved the most, that his own son wasn’t a damn monster, wasn’t complete scum.

Deacon leaned back against a half broken down wall of a house in Sanctuary, took a drag off a cigarette, and watched Shaun follow Miles around the neighborhood like a little duckling.

He was a good kid. Above ground, surrounded by people who care about him, he wouldn’t end up a damn thing like the old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw i take drabble prompts at my tumblorg @ werewolfxo bc i like to write so if you're thinking "oh that's cool but you know i'd like them to write about this also" then send me an ask about it my buddy my pal my friend


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> elementoid asked:  
> Write about a time Deacon and Miles disagreed on the best way to handle a situation

Sunshine Tidings co-op was just over the hill. It was a nice little town of it’s own, with a barn in the center. 

The “Free the Robots” sign caught Miles by surprise, especially considering the obviously confused Mr. Handy circling the barn repeating itself.

Deacon laughed. “Nice reprogramming right there.”

Miles found the terminal just inside. Some assholes named Jack and Allen practically destroyed the thing to “free it.”

“Are they Railroad?” Miles asked.

“Could be.” Deacon shrugged. “I don’t know every guy in the Railroad.” Miles fixed him with a skeptical look. “Okay, I know a lot of them but, I don’t know these guys. We use the codenames. I can’t keep track of everyone’s real name.”

Miles sighed and returned to the terminal. “Maybe I can fix it.”

Deacon snorted. “Why? Let’s just kill the ferals here, go back to redneck hq, and be done with it.”

“Cause Deacon, look at what they did to the poor thing.” Miles gestured to the robot still circling outside. “It can’t even leave if it wants to.”

“It’s a Mr. Handy, pal. It’s a bunch of wires and screws. It’s not a synth. You’re taking this too seriously.”

“Codsworth is a Mr. Handy.” Miles turned around and leaned back against the desk. “Curie was a Ms. Nanny. Are you going to tell me that my friends were just a bunch of wires and screws? That Codsworth doesn’t matter, and before Curie became a synth, she didn’t matter?”

Deacon was scowling. “That’s _not_ what I’m saying.”

“Then what the hell are you saying, Deacon?”

“I’m saying…” He shook his head. “I’m saying the damn thing is broken and you’ll be wasting your time trying to fix it. It might be hostile anyway. And if you wanna argue about which robots are people, go to Glory.”

“Fine.” Miles pushed off of the desk. “But I want you to do something for me. I want you to talk to Curie, and I want you to talk to Codsworth. Particularly, I want you to ask Codsworth about after the war, when he was alone. I don’t care if it makes you uncomfortable. You need to hear him talk about it. Then tell me what you think.”

Miles couldn’t see Deacon’s eyes through his sunglasses but he could feel his stare. It wasn’t often that Deacon came out of his usual can’t-be-bothered mood, and it was the first time Miles had ever seen it. After a moment, he nodded and turned away. He was silent for a long time after.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: mention of the suicide of patriot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> elementoid asked:  
> A time when one of them was feeling really down about something and the other didn't know how to cheer him up

They were outside the Old North Church, trying not to breathe in anymore of the stench of rotting dead ghouls and dust. Deacon had no idea how Tom wasn’t dead from some kind of weird moldy lung or pneumonia considering how much time the guy spent in there without any fresh air.

“It’s some shit that Patriot’s dead.” Deacon handed his cigarette to Miles and watched him take a drag. “What did that note say, by the way?”

“You heard Des, I’m not allowed to say.”

“And here I thought I was special.”

“It was all boring shit anyway.” Miles handed the cigarette back and kept staring forward. It wasn’t his first cue that something was wrong. Miles had a lot of tells, and honestly Deacon expected him to be after the Institute.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Now his voice was too chipper.

“You realize I’m like a human lie detector, right?” Deacon dropped the cigarette and stepped on it. “It’s why I wear the glasses. My eyes cross every time someone tries to bullshit me, and people try to bullshit me a lot.”

Miles was quiet for a minute before he dug in his pocket and pulled the note out. “Read it then.”

Deacon took it and found it to be surprisingly short. When he was done he folded it up. “Holy shit.”

“Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to let Des know I let you do that. She would probably get very pissed.”

“Yeah, I- Yeah…” Deacon was quiet for a moment. “He was being a dick. You don’t deserve-”

Miles laughed, interrupting him. “He was hurting. Hurting enough to fucking kill himself. He’d lost everything because of me. I mean, I’m fucking awful. I killed my own son, Deacon. Who does that kind of shit?”

“You didn’t kill him.”

“Didn’t I?” He shook his head. “Who pressed the fucking button that blew up the building that he was inside? Even if I didn’t do that, I’m the one who pretty much arranged the entire thing.”

“You did what was right, Miles.”

“I know, that’s why I went through with it.” He shook his head. “But it doesn’t make it any less fucked up. It doesn’t change what I did.”

Deacon sighed and pulled out his lighter, burning the note in front of him. “Let’s not go back in that church for a while, okay?” His hand found Miles’ shoulder and squeezed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> elementoid asked:  
> The first time they did something specifically romantic. Who initiated it? What did they do? What was the beginning of their established relationship like?
> 
> \--
> 
> i honestly flip back and forth between a million things bc not only did miles and deacon just kind of end up where they are, like they never had a “hey we’re not just buddies we’re def more” conversation, but miles is a big shy pupper around people he likes at first so i have to kind of decide how he’d handle it
> 
> so here’s one take on it happy valentines day

“You’re acting weird.” Deacon said, trying to avoid tripping over broken pieces of concrete in the road as he trudged behind Miles.

“That’s ridiculous.” Miles let out a nervous chuckles. “That’s not something I’m doing.”

“I’m definitely convinced now.” They approached Mercer Safehouse, which was located at Starlight Drive-In. Miles, in his pure dedication to his very own safehouse, dissembled the cars and made a nice little metal shack out of them for the rescued synths to sleep in. It smelled like oil and rubber in there, but it was safe from the rain.

“What are we doing here, more synths to rescue?”

“Nah, everything’s quiet for once.” Miles set down his pack next to the door. “Hey, you ever seen a movie? Nevermind, don’t answer that. I know you haven’t.”

“I might have.” Deacon replied.

“Well then I guess, if I told you that I might have a working holotape and the means to repair the old projector here, you wouldn’t be interested.” Miles shrugged. “I mean, you’ve seen it all before, right?”

“Wait, really?”

Miles reached into his pack and pulled out a little orange holotape. There was something written on the side but time had faded it away.

“How do you know that’s even a movie?”

“I just got a feeling.” Miles shifted from foot to foot. “Anyway, do you wanna see or not? We got the biggest screen in town here and a front row seat. If you drag us out something comfortable to sit on I’ll get started.”

Deacon hauled the couch out of the house while Miles fiddled with one of the microphones nearby, replacing broken pieces with parts out of old walkie-talkies.

Then Miles headed up to where the projector was at and after about 20 minutes, the building ahead of him lit up bright in front of him. Images started appearing on screen as music blared out of the microphone sitting next to him.

Miles sprinted up behind him and jumped next to him on the couch. “Are you ready to watch the first movie shown in the Commonwealth in 210 years?”

Deacon looked at the screen, from Miles, back to the screen, unable to find words.

“When I found the tape I figured if I looked hard enough I could find the parts to get all of this together. You’re always talking about the old world and how much you love this stuff. I figured you like it. It was a surprise, and damn you seem surprised!”

Miles was laughing when Deacon reached across the couch and grabbed him by the neck of his vault suit, pulling him over and kissing him.

“This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” Deacon said.

Miles laughed again. “I plan to do even nicer things.”

Deacon snorted. “Let me just… enjoy this one right now.”


End file.
